Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge

Another wild and crazy adventure with my birding friends!  It seems that since I am the designated guide and driver, I have the ability to find these places where there is birds and scenery. I don't promise anything, but life is an adventure...don't ya know! This time Ellayne is busy with her East coast friends at the Grand Canyon, so Karen and I are out to discover places unknown (to us). I had seen signs to Buenos Aires, and since it was so close to home, it seemed a crime not to visit. Yesterday morning, Karen and I set off at 6 AM to beat the heat and wind. There were plenty of information posts and trails along the way, but here we are at the visitors' center, which opens at 7:30 and has restrooms. Thank you, Lord! Morning coffee and all. I wanted to identify our location, but there's Karen trying to capture all the swallows flying about. She collects pins for her hat and vest of all the locations we visit. We actually got to meet the young lady who designed the pins and t-shirts for Buenos Aires.

The visitors' headquarters was actually the ranch house for the area that was turned into the refuge. Below is the skeleton of a rattlesnake. Of course, I don't know how they did it, but I thought it was worthy of a picture.

Down the road from the center is Aguirre Lake when it rains: it was bone dry. You had to imagine a lake in the indentation of the land. From there, we headed east to Arivaca Creek Trail. We didn't plan to go far since this was just a recon tour for the fall season. Well, don't ya know, we got caught up in a fantastic walk full of birds and more....

This is a summer tanager with his back to me; the best I could do. If a bird flies in front of me, I'm lucky to get a good picture. I thought I was concentrating on this one.

My choice is flowers, so this is a white zinnia. You can tell that the wind has started to blow.

I love dead trees, and in the wild no one is going to take them away, so there they are for me to photograph. This is a cottonwood, but I don't understand why the bark is crackling. That's my only word to describe it. I guess it makes the woodpeckers happy.

All of a sudden there's a slight path going up the hill. Well, that looks like fun and different. Of course. it was. A burned ranch house with a cattle chute, barn, fencing and a toliet? Oh, that comes later.

Here, I'm trying to tell Karen that I want to do a picture of her through this window frame, and all she can scream is, "Look at that lizard!" Well there he is in the bottom right-hand corner.

We encountered four or five ranches along the road, and they all had cattle chutes. Some looked like they were abandoned, and some looked they were being worked. This one was on the burned out property from two different angles. This one obvious.

This one down the chute!

Oh! Here's the toilet to nowhere!

Below is Arivaca Lake. It is suffering some drought, but is still quite a bird paradise. Karen was snapping pictures like crazy.

Here's Karen. I think I asked to her to pose. I don't usually do that, but I was looking for a particular background, but settled for a nice photo.

Love dead trees! Big old cottonwood with the Santa Rita's and something called "Elephant Head" in the distance to the right. Without a glass of wine, you'd never be able to find it!